


Laura Hale's Brother

by pterawaters



Series: Triad Verse [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Hale Family Feels, Multi, Polyamory, The Hale Fire, Triad Verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-04
Updated: 2013-07-04
Packaged: 2017-12-17 15:28:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/869085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pterawaters/pseuds/pterawaters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Throughout school, Derek was known as “Laura Hale’s Brother.” It never failed to irk him, despite how he should have suspected it, given how things were at home. Maybe it wouldn’t have been as bad if Laura had been older than him, or if she’d been young enough to be in the grade below him. But no, Laura was four months younger than Derek and in the same class as him, year after year after year. It wasn’t uncommon for kids from two-mom families to have half-siblings in the same grade as them, but that fact didn’t give Derek any comfort.</i>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>An account of Derek's life leading up to the relationship that ruined it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Laura Hale's Brother

**Author's Note:**

> This story is set in the triad-normalized universe outlined in [this post](http://pterawaters.tumblr.com/post/54226501679/i-had-a-thought-about-fic-yesterday-like-what-if) and [this tag](http://pterawaters.tumblr.com/tagged/triad-verse) on tumblr. Basically, normal, complete relationships consist of three people (a triad), rather than two (a couple). ["Blood and Ashes"](http://archiveofourown.org/works/865862) is set in the same universe, but you don't need to read one to understand the other.
> 
> You can visit me on tumblr [here](http://pterawaters.tumblr.com/). I've been doing meta posts for fairy tales and popular TV shows, so feel free to stop by and meta with me!

Throughout school, Derek was known as “Laura Hale’s Brother.” It never failed to irk him, despite how he should have suspected it, given how things were at home. Maybe it wouldn’t have been as bad if Laura had been older than him, or if she’d been young enough to be in the grade below him. But no, Laura was four months younger than Derek and in the same class as him, year after year after year. It wasn’t uncommon for kids from two-mom families to have half-siblings in the same grade as them, but that fact didn’t give Derek any comfort.

_Everyone_ liked Laura better. Despite being a werewolf (she’d always had such exceptional control), she was popular. Laura knew everyone and everyone liked her. Even Derek’s Mama and Mima barely showed him any attention when Laura was in the room. Derek got the feeling his father noticed this, because sometimes Keith would take Derek on “Father-Son” trips where they didn’t do much more than go out to the woods and sit quietly together. 

And it wasn’t like no one in the family noticed this going on. Derek saw the pitying looks Uncle Peter gave him. Sometimes Grandmama would give Derek an extra cookie or a piece of pie, like that would make up for the fact that his Mama liked her Mima-daughter better than she liked her son. 

Derek knew his Mama loved him, of course. She showed him affection and was never mean to him or anything, but she also didn’t have much patience for Derek as she did for Laura. It was difficult for him to sit still as a child, and it was difficult for him to speak, not only because his tongue refused to pronounce things correctly for the longest time, but also because while he was busy learning to say words, Laura was already engaging their parents in conversation. He never got a word in edgewise, and eventually he stopped trying. Mama told him not to be so surly, and to, “Please _try_ to find an anchor, Derek. Your sister already found hers!”

To top off the list of injustices, Derek was Laura’s favorite person. He had been since she first started crawling after him as an infant and it continued all the way to high school. It wasn’t even like she could give Derek the decency of letting him pretend that they weren’t related. No, she dragged him around school by the crook of his elbow and introduced him proudly to all her friends. Of course, she also heard the whispers behind their backs – that Derek was so cute, so handsome, but so unbelievably dull. Derek didn’t think he was dull. He was just quiet. There was a difference.

In fifth grade, Derek made friends with a boy who stuttered. His name was Wallace, but he stuttered so badly on his name, that he told everyone his name was “Ace.” The first day of school, a few kids laughed at him when he introduced himself, despite the teacher’s glare. At lunch, Derek sat down next to Ace and told him, “I had a lisp until last year.”

“Oh-okay,” Ace replied. After a thoughtful moment, he broke his cookie in half and said, “T-t-t-trade?” His eyes flicked to the raspberry bar Mima had packed for Derek. Little Cora had helped Mima bake them, so they had more sugar than Derek liked. He figured Ace would probably like it well enough. 

“Sure,” Derek said, ripping the bar in half and setting it down on top of Ace’s sandwich. 

Then Laura dragged her friends over and staged a full-scale invasion of the lunch table, greeting Derek’s new friend with a cursory, “Hi, Wallace,” before she and her friends completely took over the conversation. Like Derek, Ace couldn’t get a word in edgewise, but people were sitting at his table, instead of staring at him from across the room, so Ace assured Derek that he was happy.

Derek and Ace passed notes back and forth, about everything from TV shows, to comic books, to their families. Ace had a Dad and a Papa, which made Derek jealous. As much as Derek loved his parents, he really wished he’d had two fathers instead of two mothers. Maybe then he’d feel like he was actually part of the family, instead of outnumbered and spoken over.

Ace moved away from Beacon Hills between seventh and eighth grade. Derek never really made another friend.

~*~

Dealing with Laura's friends, especially since he didn't have anyone to pass notes with anymore, Derek got good at using his face to manipulate people. Usually he used scowls to get people to leave him alone, but sometimes he needed things from people, and that's where he found a smile could come in handy.

It didn't work at home, but it worked on Derek's teachers. It worked on the lunch lady at school, who would give Derek extra chicken nuggets. It worked on the boy behind the counter at the food court sandwich shop when Derek wanted a free refill. It worked when Derek caught Jeffrey Griffin watching him in the showers after swim practice.

Derek hadn't thought too hard about dating or anything. Laura had dragged him to enough parties (where he'd been forced to kiss people) to be confident in the fact that he was normal. He liked girls and he liked guys. He just hadn't done much yet. It's not like people actually asked him out on a regular basis. Usually the hot couple of the week courted Laura, not him. Derek couldn't count how many dates Laura had been on, but she always said she was intent on just having fun, not being in a relationship or anything.

With Jeffrey Griffin watching him like that, Derek thought maybe he could have a little fun of his own. Jeffrey was an alright looking guy. He'd been dating Ralph Allen and Joan Murphy for awhile, but Derek had heard (in excruciating detail) about how Ralph kissed Anne Parker at someone's party and the whole triad exploded. So, Jeff was single and Derek was single, and it wasn't like you could really be in a relationship with just one other person, but you could have the kind of fun Derek had only heard about up until this point.

Derek finished showering and got dressed slowly, keeping one ear on Jeff as the other boy finished showering and got dressed as well. When there were only a few other guys left in the locker room, Derek slung his backpack over his shoulder and approached Jeff. "Hey," Derek said, giving Jeff a small smile.

Jeff startled, his heartbeat skipping up into a faster rhythm. "Hey, Derek. Um, hi."

"I don't suppose you'd want to hang out sometime?" Derek gave Jeff his extra-chicken-nugget smile.

"Oh, um, yeah. That would be great!" Jeffrey drove Derek out to the Preserve and blew him in the back seat of his car. 

Derek got a little more popular after that, but he was still Laura's brother more often than not. He saw Jeffrey a few more times before he told Derek, "Ralph and Joan and I are getting back together."

"Sure," Derek replied, and he actually felt a little relieved. Laura had asked Derek if he and Jeff were a couple and if she could set them up with one of her friends, and Derek hadn't known what to say to her. He liked Jeff okay, but Derek didn't have boyfriend-like feelings for him or anything. If they _were_ boyfriends, it was news to Derek. "No, that's good you're getting back together. Good luck."

"Yeah, thanks, dude." Jeff gave Derek an awkward parting hug and that was that.

Over the course of the last half of sophomore year, Derek "dated" two more boys: Stan and Nick. The first day of summer vacation, Laura landed hard on Derek's bed (while he was still in it) and asked, "So, are you like mono or something?"

"What?" Derek rubbed one of his eyes, still half asleep. "No. Why?"

Laura patted Derek's cheek. "Because you've only been dating boys, Der. Don't you see how it might look?"

"I don't care, Laura." Derek tried to push Laura off his bed, but she looped a hand around the bed frame, making it almost impossible to do. "I'm sixteen and boys are easier. It's not like I've declared everlasting love for anyone."

"God, are you even capable of falling in love?"

Derek raised his eyebrow at his sister. "I'm a werewolf, not a robot. What do you think?"

The smile that spread across Laura's face was absolutely terrifying. "I think you should date my friend Zoe. She's quiet too!"

"And...?" Derek didn't want to date any of Laura's friends. It would be like trying to date a girl who lived in a minefield of filial obligations and disappointment. And teasing.

"And your babies would be gorgeous!"

Derek sighed and flopped back onto his pillow. "I don't want babies. I just want to survive high school and maybe get laid sometimes. Is that so much to ask?"

"It is when I need Zoe to owe me a favor." When Derek looked up, Laura was giving him her version of the extra-chicken-nugget smile. 

"No."

"But-"

"No! I will not let you pimp me out. I'm your brother, damn it!"

Before Laura could do more than open her mouth again to argue, Keith called out from downstairs, "Laura, leave your brother alone!"

"But he's a social pariah, Daddy! I'm just trying to help!"

Noticing that Laura had let go of the bed frame so she could express with her hands, Derek took the opportunity to push her to the floor.

"Fine!" She cried from the floor before vaulting up to her feet. "But don't come crawling to me when you've skeeved your way through the single male population of Beacon Hills High and finally want to meet a nice girl."

Derek very much doubted that Laura was capable of distinguishing a nice girl from a crazy one, given her dating record, but he decided not to shout this observation after her as she left his room. The Dora Chase Incident was never to be spoken about, on pain of claws in the gut, as Derek had found out on more than one occasion.

~*~

Derek did end up dating a couple eventually, when they were both on the swim team with him and kept engaging him in conversation until he'd forgotten to be put out about it and started actually enjoying their company. Charlie Jensen was a senior, but Haley Nguyen was a junior, like Derek. Haley liked movies probably more than was technically sane and Charlie liked video games almost as much. They both liked Derek for some reason, even though he hadn't ever thought to use his extra-chicken-nugget smile on either of them. 

Derek went on four dates with them, grudgingly having a good time, and slept with them on the fifth date, when Haley's parents were out of town. He felt pretty good about it, warm and fuzzy and content (boobs were just as awesome as everyone said), until he overheard Haley as he left. "Did you notice he kisses just like his sister?"

Derek felt like he was going to be sick. Why couldn't he have anything, _anything_ without his sister being involved somehow? When he got home, Derek looked up information about colleges on the other side of the country, pack be damned. Laura be damned. He just needed to be free, for a little while anyway. He needed to be _himself_.

Over winter break, Derek went swimming at Beacon Hills High during the free swim hours that were open to the public. He liked swimming. Of all the sports he'd tried, swimming was the one where he found it easiest to stay in control. Laura's friends kept bugging him to join lacrosse instead, but the one time Derek had tried playing, he'd gotten bashed in the face with a crosse and almost shifted on the field. 

No, swimming was better. He liked the way the chlorine filled his nose and the water filled his ears. It made him feel blind and deaf and dumb and just so very calm.

The new lifeguard at the pool made Derek feel anything but calm. She was beautiful and sexy and she kept smiling at Derek whenever he looked over at her. It almost felt like she was watching him back. But that couldn't be right, could it? She had to be at least five years older than Derek, maybe even ten. 

On Derek's third visit of the week, it was a Friday and Derek didn't have anything better to do than swim laps by himself until the lifeguard blew her whistle and called out to Derek.

"Alright, cutie. Pool's closing! Time to get out."

Derek wasn't sure what to say to that, or even if he should, so he just nodded and followed orders. He got out of the pool, collected his towel, and followed a couple of other stragglers to the locker room.

Laura had friends over that night, so Derek took his time rinsing off the chlorine until he was the last one left. As he passed the mirrors above the sinks, Derek noticed he was actually getting a little bit of a five o'clock shadow. Man, he was going to have to start shaving every day, instead of every other, wasn't he?

He was startled out of thinking about his face when he heard the door open and close, and footsteps approach. Figuring it was just one of the other guys who'd forgotten something, Derek didn't hurry on his way back to his locker. It wasn't a guy. It was the lifeguard.

"Oh, hey," she said as Derek tightened the towel around his waist. She was wearing jeans and a t shirt, while he had just the towel around his waist and his still-wet suit bunched in one hand. "I'm just supposed to make sure everyone's gone before I lock up. Guess I dropped the ball on that one, huh, sweetie?"

"Uh, yeah. I guess," Derek replied. He gestured toward his locker. "I'll just–"

The lifeguard stepped closer to Derek rather than away. He shivered when she ran a hand up his chest. "What's a boy like you doing here all alone? And this late at night?"

Derek had to clear his throat before he could reply. "I can take care of myself."

The lifeguard laughed and slipped her hand over Derek's nipple and up onto his shoulder. Her other hand landed at his waist and she said, "Oh, I'm sure you can. But isn't it more fun when you let other people take care of you?"

Even though Derek was a werewolf, he was sitting on the bench with the lifeguard straddling his lap before he knew what was happening. "Um."

She laughed again and pulled Derek into a kiss that left him gasping. "You don't talk much, do you sweetie?"

Shaking his head, Derek put his hands on her waist and pulled her closer, relishing the friction against his dick. Then he got one hand in her chlorine-tacky hair and pulled her into another kiss. After all, Derek wasn't going to look this gift horse in the mouth. The chances that Laura had ever seen the new lifeguard were nonexistent and Derek thought that was probably what he liked best about her.

~*~

No, what Derek actually liked best about Kate was her girlfriend Liz. Kate was hot and funny and exciting, but Liz was just the coolest person Derek had ever met. She had short, spikey black hair and all of her tattoos had deep personal significance. The intricate "D" on her inner arm was for the brother she'd lost, "To the war." The grim reaper on her hip reminded her to live each day to the fullest. And the barbed-wire that looked it was making her arm bleed meant duty to and sacrifice for one's beliefs.

Liz said things like, "We're only as good as the strength of our convictions," and, "You either agree with me, or you're wrong." Kate would always roll her eyes when Liz started saying such things, but Derek all but _worshipped_ Liz. When Derek was able to lie his way out of the house long enough to meet them (because there was no way he'd tell his family he was seeing two adults), Kate liked to direct things, liked to get her fill first and then watch. Liz would be the one to take Derek apart piece by piece.

It was like nothing Derek had ever experienced before, completely losing himself in what they did to and for his body. Except there was one piece of himself he held back. However much control he gave up, Derek never let himself lose focus of his anchor. He never let them see what he really was.

Until he did.

One day Derek had Kate laid out under him, her knees tight enough against his ribs that, had he been human, it would have it a little difficult for him to breathe. Kate had her hands in his hair, her long, sharp nails digging into his scalp almost like claws, pulling his head back, and her teeth at the base of his throat. If she had been a werewolf, it would have been so easy for her to tear out his throat and kill him. The thought made all of Derek's hair stand on end and his dick throb. He was buried as deep into her body as he could get and he was trying to fuck her, but it was difficult when Liz had fingers from both hands slipping into and out of his ass, working his prostate like it was nothing. Like she could do it all day.

Derek knew that if she did attempt to finger him all day, he would most likely die from sheer pleasure, werewolf healing or not.

"Good, baby?"

Derek managed a gurgle in response, most of his attention going to holding himself up so he wouldn't crush Kate, and trying to keep the werewolf side of him locked inside.

It wasn't easy with the full moon rising the next night, and some of that must have shown, because Liz said, "C'mon, Derek. Just let go."

Derek tried, he tried letting go just enough, but everything was building up too high, too far, too much, with Liz's fingers in him and Kate around him and her teeth digging into the skin on his throat, and he couldn't hold it all in. He _couldn't_.

But Derek couldn't reveal what he was either. It was a lesson that had been drilled into him as soon as he could understand the words. If someone didn't know you were a werewolf, you sure as shit didn't tell them.

But then Kate whispered against Derek's skin. "'S'okay, Der. We know. We know everything and it's okay. Just let go."

Derek tried to hold back, he tried so damn hard, but Kate's words just flipped a switch and everything came roiling to the surface at once. Derek's claws and ears grew. Hair sprouted over his face and his teeth lengthened. His eyes glowed. He roared and came, the echoes of his howl bouncing away into the night outside Liz and Kate's apartment.

Kate pulled Derek's mouth into a kiss and Liz peppered gentle kisses up his spine. "There's our Derek. There's our boy."

Shame and dread filling him now that his high was fading, Derek twisted away and changed back. He sat on the edge of the bed and asked, "How did you know?"

Liz sat down on Derek's side, pressing her chin into his shoulder. "We've met werewolves before. Once you know one, it's easier to spot others."

"Who?" Derek asked before he could stop himself. "Who did you meet?"

On his other side, Kate took Derek's hand and laced it with hers. "Oh, it was a long time ago, sweetie. It doesn't matter. What matters is that we don't care."

"And that we love you," Liz added, kissing the side of Derek's neck. "And you love us."

"Yeah," Derek agreed, squeezing Kate's hand and leaning into Liz. "Yeah, I do."

~*~

Derek sneaked Liz and Kate into his house when Kate's father was staying with them for Christmas. He even showed them the back exit to the cellar pantry that he and Laura had discovered a few years previously, so they could get out quickly if his family came back. "I'm underage and they could _kill you_ if they get mad enough," he told them, mostly thinking about his mother. Derek could tell she hadn't believed him when he said he needed to stay home from the "Winter" pagent Cora's class was putting on in order to study for finals, but she'd let it slide. Derek figured she and Mima were both too occupied with Laura's new boyfriends (who were seniors) and with Cora's last minute costume fixes to pay attention to what he may or may not be doing.

Kate tied him to the bed and bit him until he bled while Liz rode him hard and fast. Derek came so hard he practically passed out. It was only after they left that Derek realized the residual smells were going to be a problem. When he'd had sex friends over before, his parents hadn't said anything, but they were all students at school with him. This was different. 

Derek threw open his windows despite the cold, threw all of his bedding in the wash, and began a vigorous workout in his room, to try to cover the smell of sweat with a more innocent odor. When his family got home, Derek's muscles burned and his room was twenty degrees colder than the rest of the house. Derek's father stuck his head in Derek's door and asked, "Study break?" His raised eyebrow told Derek that Keith knew something was up, and that he was subtly judging Derek for trying to cover it up.

"Yeah. Study break. Did lots of push ups." Derek flexed his arm. 

Keith laughed. "Yeah. Keep working on it, kid! You'll get there. Eventually."

Derek frowned at the back of his door after Keith closed it. He was pretty sure he'd gotten away with it.

~*~

Five weeks later, the majority of Derek's family was dead and both Kate's and Liz's numbers were disconnected. It took Derek almost two days to realize that they must have been involved. He destroyed their empty apartment in a fit of grief and rage, tearing apart the walls and wrenching pipes from their sockets and bashing out windows and lamps and mirrors. When he was done, Derek didn't feel any better. He sank down into the wet shambles of the apartment and cried.

Derek went back to his and Laura's hotel room and she grabbed him fiercely. "Don't you ever leave my sight again, Derek!"

For the next six years, Derek never did.


End file.
